In the field of psychology, and especially in the area of behavior modification, the importance of providing "feedback", i.e., readily-understood information concerning the impact of behavior, has been long recognized. Feedback enables a person to know whether or not his or her behavior is acceptable, and helps the person to control his or her impulses to behave inappropriately. Thus, feedback helps the person to anticipate the response which will be given to his or her behavior by others.
"Report cards" have long been used to provide visual feedback to students, concerning their behavior in school classrooms. At home, parents have used a "checklist" of their children's responsibilities to aid in determining whether their children have earned their allowance money or other rewards. Various types of consumer products have appeared which are intended to assist parents in monitoring and managing their children's behavior.
Authoritative sources agree that any disciplinary procedure must be administered fairly if the child is to develop his or own internal sense of right and wrong. It is also widely agreed that any discipline procedure which is administered too long after the corresponding behavior is less effective than discipline which is administered promptly. With the increased publicity given to the problem of child abuse, parents today are understandably wary of using corporal punishment, and there is a substantial body of evidence to support the proposition that corporal punishment is less effective in making long-term changes in behavior than other types of discipline. The denial or suspension of privileges, in proportion to the severity of the behavior exhibited, is considered to be the best response to most types of undesirable behavior.
In response to the need to provide a behavior training and modification device, the applicant has developed and sold the device shown in FIG. 1. This device has been commercially available from Practical Encouragement and Guidance Systems in Geneva, Ill. since 1992. As can be seen in FIG. 1, the device is in the form of a board having a plurality of pegs arranged to form a grid of rows and columns. Indicator plates can be marked with visual indicia representing individuals, tasks, and behaviors. The indicator plates include apertures so they can be slid onto the pegs. The plates are positioned on the board to assign tasks to specific individuals and to indicate behavior traits to be modified. Status indicator plates are used to acknowledge the completion of tasks, and the manifestation of desirable and undesirable behavior.
An instruction book provided with the device discloses dividing the board into a task section and a behavior section. The task section includes a row of pegs for receiving task plates indicating tasks to be performed and assignment rows for each individual responsible for performing the designated tasks. Status plates are placed on the pegs in the assignment rows to indicate the status of the tasks assigned to a respective individual.
Similarly, the behavior section includes a first row of pegs for receiving behavior plates indicating behaviors to be modified and a row of pegs for each individual whose behavior is to be modified. The first row of the behavior section can be divided into a first section in which a behavior plates corresponding to existing behaviors are placed and a second section in which behavior plates corresponding to a desired behaviors are placed. Status plates are placed on the pegs in individual rows to indicate the status of the individual's behavior.
This device suffers from several drawbacks. First, the board can only be used in one orientation because the pegs in the upper row are positioned too close to the frame to permit the board to be rotated ninety degrees. Second, if multiple disks are placed on a single peg, only the top disk in the stack is visible. Finally, the device does not disclose any mechanism for immediately signaling a reversal from good to bad or bad to good.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the above-noted problems. Other objects will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description and appended claims, and upon reference to the accompanying drawings.